Where do ideas come from?

by Phil RickabyProcess, WritingPosted on No Comments

I  sometimes get this question.  I am told that some writers hate this question, but I don’t mind it. I’ve always been enamoured of Neil Gaiman’s answer to this question:

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.

I love this. I get ideas all the time, and I write them down in a notebook as quickly as possible. I’ve learned from experience, that if I don’t, I will forget the idea.  I have had some amazing ideas in my time, and before I started carrying a notebook, I forgot them entirely because I didn’t write them down.

I get ideas from all kinds of things. I get ideas by listening. I hear a comment or a sentence spoken in passing, and I think “that’s interesting”. So I write it down. I follow interesting blogs on my RSS Feeds, and I sometimes get ideas from things I see there. I think its a good idea to follow interesting blogs. To follow tumblr blogs and pinterest feeds if the content is interesting. Anything interesting can be inspirational. But the most important thing is, an Neil Gaiman says, to be aware of when you’re having an idea.

Most everyone has great ideas. The trick is to do something with it.

Do you remember the last kick-ass idea you had? What did you do with it?

This persistent idea

by Phil Rickabywork, WritingPosted on No Comments

I have this idea that gets stuck in my head and won’t go away. I think its a good idea, but I’m not sure how to make it work just yet.

The idea is this: a coworking space for writers. Now, I know that these sorts of things already exist, but we make this more of a co-op. Everyone buys in and shares the cost of the space. Since people are creative at different times, the space is available to its members whenever they need it. If they are more creative during the day, they can come and use the space then, or if they write best at night, they can do that. This appeals to me because I have, in the past, done my best writing (or at least my most prolific writing) in a room with other creative people.

The idea goes a little further. So we all have access to the space when we need it, but it would be possible to book the space for a special event. Having a book launch? Having a play reading? Book the space for a night, charge an entry fee and kick a small percentage back to the space. These would help cover incidental costs that might come up, like repairs or internet or coffee. Occasionally, we might have a party in the space, charge a cover and use that cover to go into a fund for the space.

These are just ideas I’ve been batting around in my brain. None of them are even a little doable at the moment, because getting something like this set up takes money and at the moment that’s something I just don’t have. But I feel like writing this down is a good way to help solidify the idea in my head so that sometime in the future I can make it happen.